Sunshine
by blazergirl1720
Summary: The name of my story, Sunshine, is significant in two ways the first you’ll have to read to find out, the second is the hope sunshine always brings. Please see the Author’s Note inside.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: For those of you who have already started to read this story I must apologize for the complete overhaul. It's the same plot but I made the main character act more her age and there are some big changes in the story I have written it so far (it's still going to end up where I wanted it to go it's just going to get there better). I have an awesome friend who is helping me make this story better (thank you J. Phillips). Also, updates are going to be sporadic at best because of many factors but I'll try to update at least once a month. And this is being posted before the final edit so there will probably still be a lot of grammatical mistakes (as well as other really stupid ones).

And, without further ado, on with the story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ray of Sunshine**

By Nina

**Chapter 1**

CRASH!

"Stupid BOX!"

"Abby!?" a soprano voice exclaimed in worry. "Are you alright?" The voice belonged to a blonde woman in her mid thirties.

"Just peachy, Mama," an annoyed Abigail said as she rubbed her right knee. The teen glared down at the box she had tripped over, mentally cursing her clumsiness. Then her blue-green eyes scanned over the scattered contents of the box she had been carrying. "This is just great," frustration was evident in her tone, "this whole freakin' morning has just sucked," emphasizing 'sucked' by kicking her now empty box through the open doorway.

A tall Japanese man stepped into the room and took in the scene, dodging the flying box with a skillful ease. He eyed the girl who had kicked the box. "You alright, Sunshine?"

The look Abigail gave her father said 'What do you think,' and she fled from the storage room as fast as her injured leg would allow.

Abigail's father, Katsuya, sent a worried look at his wife, and then stared after his daughter. "Sue, what happened?"

"I don't know, Kat. Abby was carrying a box out to the dojo when she tripped," was his wife's answer. "She usually laughs when she does something like that, but now that I think about it, she's been limping a little all morning." Susan's blue-green eyes filled with concern as they fell on the doorway her daughter just fled through. She moved her gaze back to her husband. "You'd better go make sure she's okay. I'll get this cleaned up then head to the kitchen."

With a nod of understanding, Katsuya was gone.

* * *

Abigail had fled to the room she was staying in, not wanting cry in front of everyone. She sat on the bed letting her braided red hair fall over her shoulder and recalled the events of the morning. Her tears fell unbidden to her bare knees. 

The morning had been horrible. On her way to the dojo for her morning training Abigail had slipped down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom, and then stubbed her toe hard on the front door's frame. Once she had gotten to the dojo everything seemed to go smoothly until the end of her last kata. She was moving into her last step when she lost concentration and miss stepped, falling painfully to her right knee. To make matters worse it was a kata she should have been able to do in her sleep. Then, at breakfast, she had managed to embarrass herself in front of Robert, one of the dojo owner's grandsons, by spilling milk down the front of her shirt. Tripping over that box had been the final cut, further injuring her already tender knee, and wounded pride.

With a sigh, she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked around the room she had been staying for the last three weeks. Abigail had been traveling with her parents for as long as she could remember, never staying very long in a single place. Currently they were staying and helping to renovate a small dojo in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Abigail's blue-green gaze came to rest on one of the photographs sitting on the dresser. As she stood up to get the picture she heard a knock on her door.

"It's open," she called over her shoulder as she picked up the photo.

Katsuya walked in and sat down on the bed. Abigail, with photo in hand, limped back to the bed and sat down next to him.

They sat there in silence for a while; Katsuya was waiting for his daughter to open up, and Abigail staring at the photo. It was a picture of a man with black hair tied into a pigtail and a woman with short dark blue hair in front of a Japanese koi pond; the woman stood there laughing while the man was in mid fall heading straight for the pond.

Finally Abigail looked at her father. "I'm sorry, Papa, I shouldn't have run out like that. It's just today has not been my day." She looked away again, hiding the tears threatening to fall again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Katsuya's dark blue eyes shone with concern.

Abigail lost the battle with her tears. She put the photograph down next her and cried into her fathers shoulder spilling all the events of the morning to him. The whole time Katsuya smoothed her hair and rubbed her back.

Abigail gave a half-hearted laugh before sitting back. "Pretty pathetic crying over a rotten morning, huh?" She had a soft southern accent.

His dark blue eyes dancing with amusement, Katsuya took on a mock severe tone, "You're right, Martial Artists don't cry, girls do."

"Papa, I _am_ a girl." Abigail giggled a little at the old joke and Katsuya joined in with a chuckle.

That out of their system Katsuya gave Abigail a small smile. "You feeling better now, Sunshine?" Abigail loved the sound of her father's voice with its easy southern tempo and dialect mixed with the inflections of his home country. It also had a calming quality.

Abigail smiled back. "Yeah, Papa, thank you for listening."

Katsuya gave her a hug. He turned his focus on the photograph he remembered Abigail holding. "You're missing them, aren't you?"

"Yeah, a bit," Abigail admitted. "We don't see them a whole lot."

"You're right about that. Anyway, let's put some ice on that knee." Abigail nodded and let Katsuya help her up.

* * *

Katsuya and Abigail entered the kitchen to the appetizing smell of chili and cinnamon rolls. Abigail's mouth began to water in anticipation as she hobbled to the kitchen table. She sat down in one chair and put her right leg up on another while Katsuya walked over to the freezer for an icepack; there was always one or two on hand for the inevitable injuries of any dojo. Katsuya placed the icepack on his daughter's knee before moving to help Susan with lunch. 

Abigail watched her parents move around the kitchen with a fluid grace, complementing each others actions and never once repeating a step. They demonstrated the same grace when performing katas in the dojo. Their harmony still gave Abigail goose bumps and she had a personal bet they didn't even realize they did it. It was also a treat to watch the reactions of anyone who was lucky enough to witness her parent's impromptu performances (whether it's martial arts, making lunch or anything in between).

Once lunch was put on the table and food handed out Abigail looked at her mother. "Mama, I'm sorry for this morning."

Susan smiled at her daughter. "It's alright, Baby, though you shouldn't kick around poor defenseless boxes." Susan's accent was much the same as Abigail's though more pronounced.

Abigail bristled a little at 'Baby'; she didn't like that particular pet name and hadn't found the courage to speak up yet. She didn't notice her battle aura flickered but it caught Katsuya's attention. "Yeah, well, I could have punched the wall instead," she retorted before taking another bite of the cinnamon roll she had dunked into her chili.

"Abigail." The voice was quiet but commanded obedience. It was a tone not often used but when it was, didn't bode well for anyone who ignored it. Abigail stared in defiance at her father for about two seconds before averting her eyes and mumbling an apology.

Abigail looked around and in as much out of curiosity as to change the subject she asked, "Where're Mr. Gonzales and his grandsons? They don't usually miss lunch." Mr. Gonzales was the dojo owner and one of its teachers, his grandsons, Robert and Joseph, being the other two. Abigail liked the kind old man, especially his humor. Robert she thought was kind of cute but distant. Joseph had his grandfather's humor.

Before she and her parents had got there the dojo was in shambles; tiles falling from the ceiling, paint coming off the walls, wooden floor in serious need of a polish and the equipment needing maintenance. The first two weeks had seen them advertising the dojo and getting it back into working order with the second week accepting the students. A lot of their students were from Holloman Air force Base, the children of the Airmen stationed there.

"Lunch is a little early today so they're still with a class," Susan responded, "We'll cover the food so as they can eat when they're done."

* * *

After lunch Abigail's father had looked at and messaged her knee before declaring it would be fine tomorrow, but a soak tonight and no morning workout was ordered. Then they finished going through all the boxes, getting rid of all the useless equipment and putting the rest back in storage. 

With a sigh Abigail got out of the tub she had been soaking in, her knee feeling better but her emotions weren't. She was feeling a little guilty for her actions throughout the day. She made her was to her room and sighed again when she realized tomorrow was Monday. "Yippee, school." She pulled the covers over her head and went to sleep.

* * *

The next morning dawned beautiful. Abigail woke to the sound of birds happily tweeting in the tree next her window. She yawned and stretched, looking at her clock. Her eyes nearly bugged out when she read the time; 7:15 a.m. 

"Papa's gonna kill me!" she panicked, jumping out of bed before she remembered being told she couldn't practice that morning. Abigail sat back down onto her bed heavily then took her time getting ready for school.

She made her way down the stairs to the kitchen to find her mom and dad already sitting at the table.

"Morning," Abigail said before sitting down. She grabbed one of the bowls and put cereal in to it.

"Morning, Sunshine."

"Morning, Abby."

Susan looked at Katsuya who nodded. "We've got some news for you, Sunshine."

The bowl of cereal Abigail was eating was forgotten as she heard this. "What's up?" she asked.

"We're thinking of taking a trip to see your grandparents after we are done here." Katsuya went back to eating from his own bowl while he waited for the news to sink in. He didn't wait long.

"Really?!" Abigail cried after making a very good impression of a deer caught in headlights.

Susan gave a little laugh before answering. "Yes really, we are leaving on Sunday to my parents first. Then we're going to head to Japan to see your grandparents there."

"I can't wait!" Abigail gushed before hugging her mother and father and dancing off to school.

* * *

A very bored Abigail was sitting in math class drawing a picture of the teacher working at the chalkboard. She had gotten pretty good at drawing in the last year; it was the only thing she could do to keep from falling asleep in class. Abigail couldn't understand why her parents insisted she go to school anyway. Until she started ninth grade Abigail's parents had home schooled her, because of the constant moving, and they'd done a decent job. Almost all of the stuff she was learning here she had already been taught. Not to mention half the stuff was repeated in every school she transferred to. 

Mrs. Bentson turned from the chalkboard and the math problem she had been explaining to the class. Her eyes fell on one of her students in the back. "Abigail," she said, Abigail's head shot up in attention, "since you already seem to know what I'm teaching come up here and show us how the next problem is solved."

Abigail rolled her eyes and sighed at the snickers she heard from the other students. Standing up from her desk she walked to the chalkboard and solved the problem without a hitch. Bowing slightly to the teacher she handed the chalk back. Once in her seat she went back to ignoring the class.

* * *

Just before lunch Katsuya and Susan found a little time to relax. They were sitting in some cushioned chairs on the Gonzales' back porch enjoying the nice breeze and some tea. 

"Abby seemed pretty excited when we told her," Susan stated, "I don't blame her, though, I'm pretty excited, myself," she continued with a smile.

"Me too," Katsuya said. "Mom and Dad are missing Abby a lot, too, so they're very happy we're coming."

Any further conversation was cut off by the ringing of Katsuya's cell phone. Katsuya picked it up and frowned at the word 'restricted' flashing where the number should have been. "Hello, Katsuya Saotome speaking," he answered, "how may I help you?"

"Saotome-san, he's escaped."


End file.
